The present invention relates to a method for enabling the use of heavy oil residuum to a useful product and more particularly the present invention relates to a method for converting such residuum to a fuel which can be used for power generation and steam production for heavy oil recovery, and as a direct process heating source.
In view of escalating fuel prices and particularly natural gas prices, there has been a resurgence in the need to consider less costly fuel options.
One of the limitations in the fuel generation art is that the art has not thoroughly considered the possibility of using materials which are generally not considered as fuels, but have the possibility of conversion to useful fuel. One such material that is useful is residuum and in particular, heavy oil residuum. Such materials present numerous difficulties in that the viscosity is quite high to the point that the material almost comprises a solid and thus handling and conversion to a form suitable for use as a combustible fuel have presented difficulties. It is known in the chemical engineering field that droplet size range is important to produce a fuel which will burn in a host of boiler types and not present problems in terms of boiler selection, sufficient carbon burnout or violation of existing flue gas opacity standards.
It has been proposed previously to convert other materials to a fuel, however, such proposals have not proved viable, since droplet size could not be produced in a size distribution sufficient to be efficiently burned in a wide variety of boilers or other combustion devices.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,956, issued to Moriyama et al., Sep. 3, 1996, there is disclosed a super heavy oil emulsion fuel and method for generating deteriorated oil and water super heavy oil emulsion fuel. The fuel is indicated to have a relatively low viscosity and adequate long-term stability and comprises in an emulsified state 100 parts by weight of a super heavy oil, 25 to 80 parts by weight water and 0.02 to 5 parts by weight of the non-ionic surfactant. This reference teaches a useful fuel, however, there is no recognition of formulating an emulsion which creates a particle size sufficient for use as an energy source in a boiler for use in power generation and steam recovery for heavy oil recovery.
Ichinose et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,473, issued Mar. 14, 2000, teaches a heavy oil emulsified fuel combustion apparatus. This reference is primarily focused on the apparatus and does not go into any real detail with respect to a fuel or conversion process for converting residuum to a useful combustible fuel.
It would be desirable if there were a method to formulate a combustible fuel in a desirable size range for the emulsified particles to be used in any type of boiler for use as an energy source. The present invention speaks to the issues in the industry and presents a particle having a droplet size necessary to achieve more efficient burning.
One object of the present invention is to provide a method for converting heavy oil residuum to a combustible fuel, comprising the steps of:
providing a source of heavy oil residuum having a viscosity such that the residuum is substantially non flowable at ambient conditions;
reducing the viscosity of the residuum to facilitate flow thereof;
providing a mixing means;
providing a source of water; mixing the water and reduced viscosity residuum in the mixing means; and
forming, in the mixing means, an emulsion of predispersed residuum in an aqueous matrix in a size distribution suitable for use as a combustible fuel.
Advantageously, the present invention ensures a relatively flat size distribution where the emulsified particles fall within the size distribution of 0.5 microns to 50 microns. In this size distribution, the choice for boiler selection is fairly broad whereas particles in a size distribution of greater than 50 microns present complications in that boiler selection is restricted generally to only fluid bed combustion technology. It also becomes difficult to obtain sufficient carbon burnout with a large size droplet and presents complications of flue gas opacity.
It has been found that by providing a process for generating a droplet within the size distribution indicated above, there is a significant increase in the technology options employable to the user, including the use of fluid bed boilers, conventional radiant boilers and conventional once through steam generators, commonly employed in the heavy oil recovery operations.
In accordance with a further object of one embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method for converting heavy oil residuum to a combustible fuel, comprising the steps of: providing a source of raw residuum from a source of bottoms from heavy oil treatment or fractionation, said residuum having a viscosity such that said residuum is substantially non flowable; reducing said viscosity of said residuum with a liquid diluent to facilitate flow of said residuum; providing a mixing means; providing a source of water; mixing said water and reduced viscosity residuum in said mixing means; and forming, in said mixing means, an emulsion of predispersed residuum in an aqueous matrix in a particle size distribution of between 0.5 microns and 50 microns suitable for use as a combustible fuel.
It has been found that the control of the viscosity of the residuum is important so that the material can be mixed in a mixer capable of formulating a micro-sized emulsion. A suitable mixer that has been employed to effect the present invention can consist of a variety of suitable mixers manufactured by the Kenics Company among others. The company produces a helical mixing arrangement which is useful for particularly efficient mixing. Other suitable devices capable of formulating the emulsion include collation mills which may be ganged in series or parallel, backward centrifugal and gear pumps positioned in series inter alia. The type of mixer will be apparent to one skilled in the art. The choice of the mixer will be selected to result in entrainment of the heavy oil residuum within a liquid (aqueous) matrix such that a particle distribution is formed in the range of 0.5 microns to 50 microns.
According to a further object of one embodiment of the present invention there is provided: a process for converting heavy oil residuum to a combustible fuel, comprising of:
providing a source of heavy oil; pretreating said oil to remove entrained water;
fractioning said oil into fractions at least one of which is heavy oil residuum; reducing said viscosity of said residuum to facilitate flow thereof;
providing a mixing means;
providing a source of water;
mixing said water and reduced viscosity residuum in said mixing means; and
forming, in said mixing means, an emulsion of predispersed residuum in an aqueous matrix in a size distribution suitable for use as a combustible fuel.
Having thus described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment.